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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Utah chapter.

Technology, at this point in time, has engulfed our way of living. Having a mobile device at the grasp of our fingertips has been a great development for people in terms of networking and staying connected but with advantageous developments there’s also the bad.

According to Dr. Sally Andrews a Psychologist at Nottingham Trent University, young adults use their phones an average of five hours a day—which is roughly one-third of their total waking hours. Our generation’s screen to face ratio is increasing every day. This raises the presumption that maybe our generation’s reliance on technology and social media has begun to grow unhealthy over the past years.

Research from Pew Research Center also shows that’s 92% of teens report going online daily- including 24% who say they go online, “almost constantly then 56% of teens, ages 13 to 17, go online several times a day, 12% report once-a-day use and then 6% of teens report going online weekly while 2% go online less often.”

Most teens don’t even consider enjoying nature and good company but would rather be on their cellphones and watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians or just Snapchat their days away. To say that our generation has a high reliance on technology and social media might come off a bit crazy, but if you think about it, is it really?

Here are some signs that may say you’re addicted to your cell phone:

  1. You check your phone right as you wake up or right before you go to bed.
  2. You use Google more than you do a textbook for research.
  3. You start feeling your phone vibrate just to find out later that it was a false alarm.
  4. You judge others by their lock screen patterns on their phones.
  5. You carry your cell in your hand instead of your bag or pocket.
  6. You’re on your phone even while watching TV or eating food.
  7. You sleep more with your cell phone than your boyfriend.
  8. A lack of notifications makes you sad.
  9. You’re more social online than offline.
  10. You plan your day around known charger locations.
  11. You have tried to swipe open a book.
  12. You double tap pictures in photo albums in attempt to like them.
  13.  You wish you could screenshot with your eyes.
  14.  You try to turn down the brightness on the sun.
  15. You think that “Social Security Number” means your iPhone lock screen code.

But all jokes aside, our Internet consumption has been growing and we need to chill and put away our phones for a bit and enjoy life while we have it. So let’s all acknowledge the stars, the mountains and, of course, our friends for a second. There’s a lot more reasons to live than waiting for Kylie Jenner’s next Instagram post. 

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Her Campus Utah Chapter Contributor